Thursday, October 10, 2013

Halloween 2013: Urban Legend Week: The Haunted Painting

"The Hands Resist Him"

~by Marie Robinson

Art in its painted medium is one of the oldest and more honest forms
of expression. It requires the blood, sweat, and tears of the creator,
so it’s easy to imagine that some of the artist is left behind once the
painting is finished. How much power does a painting hold?

Have
you ever found yourself unsettled by a portrait? The eyes of the subject
may seem to follow you as you pass, their gaze may feel a little too
real. A particular urban legend takes the unearthliness of a certain
piece of art and taking it to the next level—a haunted painting.

There
are two such real-life examples I am familiar with. The first concerns a
painting by artist Bill Stoneham originally done in 1972. The painting,
called The Hands Resist Him, features two figures standing in front of a
glass door. The two figures are a young boy and a life-size doll with a
dry cell battery and a stringy mass of wires clenched in her hands.
Pressed against the glass door behind them are a dozen disembodied
hands. To be honest, the piece is pretty creepy on its own, even without
being dubbed, “the eBay Haunted Painting”.

The legend starts
with the painting being purchased by actor John Marley (The Godfather).
After his death the painting was found by a couple in an old brewery.
The couple later decides to sell the painting on eBay, claiming that the
artwork is cursed. In their product description the couple goes on to
tell that the characters in the haunted painting moved about at night,
and sometimes even stepped out of the frame into the room. People
claimed that they felt sick or uncomfortable when they viewed the
painting and eventually sold for $1,025. Nothing strange was reported
after that.

"The Crying Boy"

Another “haunted” painting is actually a series of
different versions of pieces by artist Bruno Amadio that are all
recognized as The Crying Boy. The legend of the paintings being cursed
comes from a British reporter claiming that copies of The Crying Boy
were often found at the sites of burned houses, the painting remaining
unscathed by the flames. He went on to write of fires of people who
owned a copy of the painting in their home. The rumor became so believed
that readers of The Sun would send in their copy of the painting to be
included in mass bonfires.

The 2007 Vietnamese horror film Muoi:
The Legend of a Portrait is about Yun-hee (Jo An), a writer who is
looking for the topic of her next book. She discovers the legend of a
girl named Muoi who was betrayed in life and murdered. Now her vengeful
spirit haunts her portrait. As Yun-hee delves deeper and deeper into the
legend, she finds the story bleeding into her own life.

Dorian Gray

Perhaps
the most famous example of a haunted portrait is Oscar Wilde’s The
Picture of Dorian Gray. Although it has been made into dozens of
adaptations, the basic Faustian core of the story always remains the
same. A young and beautiful man, Dorian Gray, has his portrait painted
by the artist Basil Hallward. Convinced that beauty and indulgence are
the only things worth living for, Gray sells his soul so that the
picture may age while he remains young. The first film adaptation of
Dorian Gray dates back to 1910, the most recent being the 2009
film by Oliver Parker (who has acted in a few of Clive Barker’s films),
starring Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, and Rebecca Hall.

And we
mustn’t forget about Ghostbusters II (1989), which involves the haunted
painting of Vigo the Carpathian, who possesses Dr. Janosz Poha (Peter
MacNicol) so that he may obtain Dana’s (Sigourney Weaver) baby and
regain life.

So next time you stop by your local art gallery, look a little deeper
into the eyes of a portrait and see if someone stares back out at you.

Shocks are so much better absorbed with the knees bent...

We Wrote That:

*Christine Hadden is the creator, editor, and head writer of the Rondo-nominated blog Fascination with Fear and has been an obsessed horror fan for longer than many of her readers have been alive. She can overlook movie plot holes in exchange for style and atmosphere, rejects both the 3D and found footage phenomenons, values high gore content when done right, always prefers practical effects over CGI, and has an undying love of vampires. She considers Norman Bates her homeboy and claims Jaws as her favorite film. She has written for Fangoria and Paracinema magazines, MoviePilot, and Eli Roth's horror app The Crypt. She enjoys Kentucky bourbon and red, red wine. But not together.

Contributing Writer

*Marie Robinson is an aspiring folklore expert, published writer, and obvious old soul from St. Louis, MO. She considers Roman Polanski one of her favorite directors, The Sentinel among the scariest of films she's seen, and has read both Algernon Blackwood and M.R. James - making her wise beyond her years. In her spare time, she enjoys wandering through misty cemeteries, seeking knowledge and proof of paranormal activity, and prepping her next frightening short story. Besides Fascination with Fear, she contributes to Destroy the Brain and has written for Eli Roth's horror app: The Crypt.